Andy Abramowitz
Author Interview - Andy Abramowitz
Author of Darling at the Campsite
“Rowan Darling is an adrift thirty-three-year-old whiling away his time in the record store he owns in one of Philadelphia’s more run-down neighborhoods. Then news of his estranged brother’s death forces a return to Maybee, Illinois, the hometown Rowan left in the dust years ago. Rowan’s plan? Dart in for the funeral, support his mother, then disappear just as quickly. Things to avoid? Margot Beckett, his childhood sweetheart, and Skid Hall, his former best friend who stole Margot and married her. Together, they have become the town’s “it” couple. Unfortunately, as Rowan’s “flash visit” spirals beyond his control, he must face everything he’s dodged for too long. The woman he can’t have. The memory of the brother he thought he knew. His own dwindling prospects back in Philadelphia. But Rowan also starts to see things more clearly—what’s worth fighting for, what he can let go of, how long he can keep running, and if maybe Maybee can be home again.”
Author Interview - Andy Abramowitz
Author I draw inspiration from: These days, Ben Lerner, but it changes. When I read THE NAMESAKE, I wanted to be Jhumpa Lahiri for a year. And every time I nab a Tom Robbins novel off my shelf and read so much as a paragraph, I long to head out to a quiet mountaintop cabin in Colorado and write in the company of friendly bears.
Author Interview - Andy Abramowitz
Favorite place to read a book: In bed, late at night, Pharoah Sanders or John Coltrane playing low.
Book character I’d like to be stuck in an elevator with: Gunnar Kaufman, the protagonist of Paul Beatty's THE WHITE BOY SHUFFLE. Poet, basketball star, Harvard rejecter. I'd let him do all the talking.
Author Interview - Andy Abramowitz
The moment I knew I wanted to become an author: In 2001, I read Dave Eggers' A HEARTBREAKING WORK OF STAGGERING GENIUS. I flipped, and was suddenly reacquainted with the inspiration I'd felt when taking a writing workshop in college with novelist David Small. Small's novels THE RIVER IN WINTER and ALMOST FAMOUS made me want to produce something just as alive and beautiful, and Eggers' book reminded me of that feeling.
Hardback, paperback, ebook or audiobook: Paperback - they don't hurt as much as hardbacks when you fall asleep and they land on your face. Audiobooks are for road trips. If you haven't heard Reese Witherspoon read GO SET A WATCHMAN, find a reason to drive 7 hours today.
The last book I read: THE LEAVERS by Lisa Ko
Author Interview - Andy Abramowitz
Pen & paper or computer: What's pen and paper?
Book character I think I’d be best friends with: Keith Richards, the main character in Keith Richards' autobiography, LIFE. (He also plays guitar in an obscure band called the Rolling Stones.) He comes across as surprisingly down-to-earth. We have nothing in common (not almost nothing; exactly nothing), but if he met me, he'd want to meet once a week for coffee. I'm certain of it.
Author Interview - Andy Abramowitz
If I weren’t an author, I’d be a: A dirt-poor singer-songwriter, delusionally hopeful that international recognition of my genius was just around the corner.
Favorite decade in fashion history: 1970s. All that corduroy looks really comfortable.
Place I’d most like to travel: India. (Runner up: China, back to my daughters' hometowns. It'd be great to experience those cities when I'm not in a state of overwhelming fatigue and anxiety.)
My signature drink: Bourbon on the rocks
Favorite artist: Three-way tie between Henri Rousseau, Hokusai, and my daughter Chelsea.
Number one on my bucket list: Playing first base for one inning for the Orioles. Home game. Hopefully nothing gets hit to me.
Anything else you'd like to add: It's a privilege beyond my wildest imagination to have books published and have anyone take an interest in them.
Find more from the author:
https://www.facebook.com/andy.abramowitz.9
https://www.facebook.com/Andy-Abramowitz-1554009644848160
https://twitter.com/AbramowitzAndy
https://www.instagram.com/andyabramowitz/
Author Bio: Andy Abramowitz is the author of three novels, DARLING AT THE CAMPSITE, A BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO FREE FALL, and THANK YOU, GOODNIGHT. A native of Baltimore, Andy lives with his wife, two daughters, and their dog, Rufus, in Philadelphia, where he enjoys classic rock, pitchers’ duels, birthday cake, the sound of a Fender Rhodes piano, and the month of October. He is also a lawyer.
